Feeding mechanism



July 17, 1934. E. w. MEDBERY FEEDING MECHANISM Filed June 9 Mt W 5 ATTORA f) .:-L able manner (not shown).

Patented July 17, 1934 York, 'N.:Yqa'corporationot NevVYorkmagnes u 9, 1932; Serial 151 new.

F This invention relates to-a feeding mechanism, and -moreparticularly to a mechanism for feed,- ingtubular articles. v a l 1 I An object of the invention is -..to provide asim- 45 pleamd zeflicient mechanism fortransferring artic-leefromamagazineor supply thereof to pre- :determined positions. v --1n accordance with '.one embodiment of the invention, a-reciprocable arbor, during movement ---'1 ineither direction, enters .the-boreof the lowermost tubular article intavertical magazine and :then transfers-the same alternately'totwo grinding whels positioned on oppositesides of ,the I Im'agazine. If the bore v:ofan article isundersize, 1 5 the arbor f'ails :to'.. enter therein and the article iselected f.; v 1 t 1 Other featuresan'd advantages of: the invention will become apparent from .the following detailed description, reference being bad to; the acoompsmying drawing; :in which -Eig.1-'-'.is an elevational .view, partly: in sec- -tion of a mecha-nism embodying :the features ,of the inventionj Figi'zvis-anenlarged sectional view taken on Figs. .3 is a perspective view of one of the tubular articles before being ground, and ::Fig..4 is a perspective view.of the same after beinggroundm 1. :1: 3 V I 1 m Referring now to the drawing, the numerallO designat'esi a horizontal supporting plate above which are disposed a pair of spaced grinding wheels 11 and 12 mounted upon a common shaft 13 which is supported and driven in any suit- Fixed to the plate and positioned midway between the grinding wheels 11 and 12 is a magazine 15 having an inclined trough-like portion 16 communicating at its lower or discharge end with a vertical portion 40 17, the vertical portion being designed to hold a single vertical row of tubular blanks 18 arranged one above the other with their axes parallel to the axes of the grinding wheels.

7 At its lower end, the vertical portion 17 of "425 the magazine is provided with a horizontal slot 20 which extends across the front wall thereof and terminates at each end in a circular aperture 21 formed in each side of the magazine, the apertures 21 being in axial alignment with the lowermost blank in the magazine and of sufiicient size to permit the lowermost blank to pass freely therethrough.

The upper surface of the plate 10 is provided with a dove-tail groove or slideway 23 within which is reciprocably mounted a carrier or slide a in i te a 1 3&-

nCfl Q IQQ E, 3642 e d u ,a'shaft 3 -wh h:: s driv n i an rs i a le a An rm 2.5 xtends u ward -f m t s i .24 and-its upperporl' iqn .26 is bent horizontally toward th ma a i e l-ia rm n a il l la v beari por i n 12. di posed n c ax a ali n- .ment with the lowermost blank in the magazine and of substantially thesame diameter, An arbor 20 .5 s ure wi hin h bearin ortio 7.

arbo supp t n a m: i sli h y: l t a t wid hn thes i29 o th ma a in Th .a or a ryi ge. .2 L v ted. t 0.118 Z9 u ndp an a tinearm iZe h Q s adiu b y piv d. at its opp s t nd. to fixed suppo lntermediate its ends,

therarm-JB :carriesa: oll 3. h fi2h i s n a type cam 37 fixed to ner (not shown) g-i -;v A A pairof clamps. 40 and 4lare reciprocably -;mounted,in ythe ,slideway 23 on oppositesides of the arborcarrying-slide 24.; l;'12 rch of these clamps 130 comprises a fixed-jaw 42 and a spring pressed ',jaw 43, the two, vjaws ha ving cooperating grooves for receivingand clampinga tubularblank therebetween. The clamps 40 and 4l areinterconheated by a tension spring 45 which tends to ment being limited by 'stops or abutments 46 fixed to the supporting plate 10.

The operation of the above described mechanism is as follows: The grinding wheels 11 and 00 12 are driven from any suitable source of power, such as an electric motor (not shown, which may be connected directly to the shaft 13. Likewise, the cam shaft 38 carrying the cam 39 is power driven at the desired speed. Through the rotation of the cam 37 an oscillatory movement is imparted to the actuating arm 32 which, in turn, imparts a reciprocatory movement to the arbor carrying slide 24. During the movement of the arbor carrying slide from the left to the 11 00 right (Fig. 1); the right hand end of the arbor 30 enters the bore of the lowermost tubular blank in the magazine. After the bearing portion 2'7 of the slide engages the end of the blank, the blank is carried by the arbor through the aperture 21 in the right side of the magazine and is in- I serted between the jaws of the clamp 41. After the slide 24 engages the clamp 41, the clamp is moved to the right by further movement of the slide. During the last portion of the movementgllo of the slide to the right, the right hand end of the blank engages the rotating grinding wheel 12 and as a result a notch (Fig. 4) is ground at one end of the blank.

The above operation is repeated during the return movement of the slide to the left, except that the left hand portion of the arbor 30 enters the lowermost blank in the magazine and transfers it from the magazine into the clamp 40 which carries it to the grinding wheel 11. It will be understood that the tubular arbor carrying por-' tion 27 and its supporting arm 26 are constructed and arranged to pass freely through the apertures 21 in the side walls of the magazine and the interconnecting slot 20 in the front wall of the magazine. The return movements of the clamps 40 and 41 are effected by the spring 45, which movements are limited by the abutments 46, as described above. The finished articles are ejected from the clamps 40 and 41 by the insertion of the next succeeding blanks therein.

If the bore of the lowermost blank in the magazine is undersize, the arbor 30 fails to enter therein and as a result, the defective blank is ejected from the magazine by the arbor, but is not inserted in either of the clamps 40 and 41.

An important feature of the invention resides in the construction and operation of the reciprocable arbor 30, whereby during its movement in either direction it transfers a blank from the magazine and inserts it into one or the other or" the clamps 40 and 41. Another feature of the invention is-the additional function of the arbor in ejecting blanks having undersize bores. The mechanism is substantially fully automatic in its operation, it only being necessary that a supply of blanks be maintained within the magazine. This is accomplished in the embodiment of the invention herein illustrated and described by placing the blanks upon the inclined portion of the magazine and allowing them to roll into the lower vertical portion of the magazine.

Although the invention is herein illustrated and described in conjunction with an apparatus for grinding a section from tubular articles, such as rubber or fibre tubes, it should be understood that the novel features of the invention are capable of other applications within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In an article feeding mechanism, a magazine for contaiiiinga supply of articles and having" discharge openings on opposite sides thereof and in alinement with each other, article receiving and holding clamps positioned on opposite sides of the magazine and in alinement with said discharge apertures, a reciprocable member movable in a straight linethrough said openings and effective during its movement in either direction for transferring an article from: the magazine into one or another of said clamps, and means for reciprocating the member.

2. In a mechanism for feeding tubular articles, a magazine for containing a supply of articles arranged in a vertical row with their axes parallel, a reciprocable arbor disposed coaxial with the lowermost article in the magazine and movable axially thereof, said arbor having reduced portions at opposite ends thereof receivable within the bore of the article, and means for reciprocating the arbor to alternately insert opposite end portions of the arbor within the bore of successive articles at the lowermost position in the magazine and for thereafter removing said articles from the magazine.

3. In combination with a pair of spaced grinding wheels, a magazine for containing a supply of articles, article receiving and holding clamps positioned on opposite sides of the magazine and movable toward and away from said grinding wheels, a reciprocable member positioned between said clamps and effective during movement in either direction for transferring an article from the magazine into one or another of said clamps, and means for reciprocating the member and thereby the clamps to move the articles contained within the clamps toward the grinding wheels.

4. In combination with a pair of spaced grinding wheels, a pair of spaced article receiving and holding clamps, one for each grinding Wheel, positioned between said grinding wheels and movable toward and away from each other, a spring interconnecting said clamps for normally moving them toward each other, stops for limiting said movement, a magazine for containing a supply of articles positioned between said clamps, a recipro- 

